He backs up this logic by saying that politicians used the POW/MIA flag to stoke hatred against the North Vietnamese unjustly because:

Historically, POWs are never released until the wars end.

We should never have been in Vietnam in the first place.

French colonists once tortured the North Vietnamese.

North Vietnamese prisoners didn’t have it easy either.

The article went on to cite different times the flag was used as a political tool to draw attention away from the real issues and focus it on foreigners who were “kidnapping” our people.

Across the country, and indeed the world, veterans are expressing their anger and frustration.

“I could not comprehend it in any way. It has nothing to do with racism and hatred…It represents to me, one of the highest military traditions and patriotism in this country — we can never forget the guys who got on a bus one day and never came home,” Vietnam War Vet Jim Markson told Pix11.